N A G OYA U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R Y W O R K S H O P S 2 0 1 6

Academic Writing
andLogical Thinking
May 18 ~ June 15, 2016

Instructor: Dr. Paul Lai

N A G OYA U N I V E R S I T Y L I B R A R Y W O R K S H O P S 2 0 1 6Review

Main point of my talkTraining of logical thinking skills
is needed in order for your thoughts
to be communicated properly
in an academic paper.

教養教育院

Main point of my talkTraining of logical thinking skills
is needed in order for the paper’s
thesis statement to be convincing.

教養教育院

ThesisStatement

SupportingPremise(s)Peter is either at his office or the library.
Peter is not at his office.
Peter is at the library.
Abstract

Introduction

Others(Homework)(i) Think about a paperthat you are planningto write.
(ii) Develop a thesis
statement for thepaper.
(iii) Presenting yourthesis statement onJune 15.

How to make yourwriting clear

Group work:

Discuss with your group members
about the paper that you are planningto write.
Summarise the main point of thepaper.

ThesisStatement

Being Clear

Being Clear inCommunication

Having a Clear
Thesis Statement

Concise Summaryof themain research claim

one-sentence statement thatencapsulates
the main claimof you research paper.

Thesis Statement

Support 1

Support 2

Support 3

Although a thesis statement
is normally written in justone-sentence, it is different
from a normal sentence inmany aspects.

(1) A thesis statement must have a truth-value.
In other words,a thesis statement must be either true or false.

(2) A thesis statement should be objectivelyverifiable.
In other words,
The truth value of a thesis statement should be
independently verifiable from a third person pointof view.

(3) The truthfulness of a thesis statement needs
justification through argumentation.
In other words,a thesis statement is not merely a representationof some factual event.
it is a belief statement that such and such is thecase, whose truthfulness requires justification
through collecting evidences and arranging themin a convincing way.

(4) A good thesis statement is not trivial.
Consider the following two belief statements:“The earth orbits around the sun.”
Unlike when it was first claimed by Nicolaus
Copernicus in 1543, the thesis statement now is trivial.

“The orbiting speed of the earth is getting slower, andafter 10,000 years later one day will last 30 hours.”
This thesis statement is not trivial, and requires
justification.

(5) A good thesis statement should be as specificas possible so that its truth values can be verified
effectively.
Compare the following two belief statements:“Japanese university education system is problematic.”
Too broad, what “problematic” means is unspecified.
Trivial too, no education system is unproblematic in practice.

“One fundamental problem in Japanese university
education is the lack of logical thinking education.”
A specific problem is mentioned. And the thesis statement
requires justification through argumentation, etc.

(5) A good thesis statement should be as specificas possible so that its truth values can be verified
effectively.
For the same reason that it should not be a broadstatement, a thesis statement should not be avague statement.
e.g. “Smoking is hazardous to health.”
Too vague, what “hazardous” means is unspecified.
Trivial too, we all know that smoking is hazardous to health.

One possible improvement:“Smoking is likely to cause heart disease.”(6) A good thesis statement should havea non-compound sentence structure.

Everything in the thesis statement
must be proven.

Group Exercises

Thank you very much!